Recruiting Participants

As in our baseline and intervention studies, we recruited individuals that we believe would benefit most from our app – those that find it difficult to find time to go outside with their busy schedules. We recruited college students since they frequently have very packed schedules. We included students who have full-time jobs and those who don’t. However, we also felt that we should expand our pool beyond college students. And so, we recruited a participant who has much more free time in their schedule. Adding this participant allowed us to have a wide range of busyness across participants and, therefore, gain more insight as to the effectiveness of weekly recaps and reminders. Once we had our pool of participants, we randomly assigned them to one of the two tests. 

Assumption Test 1

Intermittent rewards motivate continuation of desired behavior

Over the course of four days, we asked participants to complete daily challenges. Participants were informed that all challenges were to be completed outside. The challenges were:

• Day 1: Take a picture of a fountain. 
• Day 2: Take a picture of a place that makes you happy.
• Day 3: Take a picture of an interesting cloud.
• Day 4: Take a picture of something that is your favorite color.

Participants were asked to send us their photo when a challenge was completed. After Day 4, we compiled a participant’s photos into a weekly recap collage and sent it to them. Below we have the weekly recaps:

Lastly, we asked participants to complete a short survey asking them about their experience. Questions included “What motivates you to continue a challenge?” and “How did the recap collage at the end make you feel?” We also asked participants how motivated they were to continue going outside before and after receiving their weekly recap.

Our goal for this assumption test was to determine if intermittent rewards in the form of weekly recaps were effective at getting users to continue going outside. 

Assumption Test 2

Reminders are effective at helping people carry out desired behavior

Over the course of four days, we texted participants reminders to go outside. The frequency of these reminders increased with each day. We began with one reminder a day and gradually increased to a reminder every 2 hours. After Day 4, we asked participants to complete a short survey asking them about their experience. Questions included “Which frequency worked for you the most in getting you outside and why?” We also asked users to share how often they went outside each day. 

Our goal for this assumption test was to determine if reminders are effective at getting people to go outside and which frequency is optimal.

See the section titled “Assumption Mapping” in this previous blog post for a more detailed description of how we developed these assumption tests.